{Paul & Wendy | Couple's Mini-Session}

Paul and Wendy have been together for 25 years. Wendy had said they hadn't had photos in a very long time, I was very happy she took advantage of the Cupid Special I did. These two had me cracking up and almost in tears with how sweet they are. Love like this is... Inspiring. Beautiful.

{Katie & Randy | Couple's Mini-Session} Downtown South Bend

It was wonderful meeting Katie & Randy. They were a blast right from the beginning when we were trying to decide to take photos with Katie's glasses on or off. :) She opted for off, but Randy said to make sure I get some WITH them on too! haha. I think he really knows her pretty well. :) These two are very much in love and capturing their interactions came quite easily. Thank you guys so much for braving the cold! It was a bit chilly, but thankfully the sun was shining. Was great hanging out for a bit. Hope you like the photos. :) 

{Happy Birthday to me!}

Today was awesome.
One of the best birthdays I've had in a long time.

I admit, I do dread aging. I don't like it. But what I realize more than anything is that each day that I get, each year that I get is a gift. Life is a privilege denied to many. I've posted that before in regards to my sister. I miss her. I miss her birthday calls.

But I'm thankful. I'm here, I'm happy to be alive and I have an amazing group of people that love me. So much support and encouragement.

I can't ask for more.

My kids and I had a little mini-photoshoot with a cake {bought by my fabulous client and friend Ashley!} The kids kept asking me if they could eat it. Oh they got to eat it alright. :) We all ate it with our hands. We laughed so much. It was a wonderful memory to make with them.

Ended the day with dinner at one of my favorite restaurants and got a gift card to the Buckle for $100 - I will NOT be able to get my frugal butt to buy some $90 jeans, but Adrian seems to think I should. :)

I really celebrated this year, this birthday - as you'll see in the photos. Started the day with Zumba and kept dancing around the house. :) I think that when you really look at another year of aging for the blessing and gift that it is, the gray hair, wrinkles and age spots don't seem to matter as much. What does matter is that I have had another 365 mostly good memories to add on to the tally.

{Josephiney Photography 2K Fans Giveaway!}

I am STOKED to be doing this giveaway! It's full of some INCREDIBLE items!! What an incredible journey it has been to this point. A lot of hard work, but worth every bit of it! This is the most REWARDING job I have EVER TRULY had. I LOVE IT. I am so happy to have met so many wonderful people in this business and am truly grateful to all of the fans who interact with me daily on my business page - who leave kind words and encouragements for me. You guys make me smile. :) Thank you SO much for the love and support you have shown and continue to show me! This giveaway is just one way I can say THANK YOU!!! and give back some of the love!!! Every prize below will have an individual winner! Sharing the love is what it's about! 


There are 7 amazing prizes being given away - so we'll have 7 individual winners!! I've noticed that often when photographers do giveaways they give away photography items/props - I wanted this to be different! I wanted every person to be able to enjoy and use these items. Photographer as well as Non-photographer! 


Goods are listed below first, and below are instructions on HOW to put your entry in for the giveaway along with giveaway specifics. 


{GIVEAWAY - THE GOODS | yeahyah!}


Josephiney Photography
{Here's my contribution! Along with organizing and running the giveaway of course! I bought this off Threadless.com - it's one of my favorite tees EVER! How cool is this shirt? I think they had me in mind when they made it. Show me some love! Ha!} 

Courtney Bock Designs

{Handmade Vintage Apron with a special Josephiney theme! Woot woot Courtney you the BOMB Seamstress! She has all KINDS of goodies that she makes! Go show her some love!}

Orange Tree
{Jamie Helman, owner of Orange Tree is donating this INCREDIBLE frame she has custom made. She's a uber-talented artist. These frames are ONE of a KIND. This 18x24 exquisite frame will get attention in your home! Go show her some love! What a fabulous donation she made to this giveaway!}

Salon Artistry Inc
{Heather Jones, owner of Salon Artistry, is FABULOUS at what she does and is the only one I want to do my hair!! She gets it right EVERY time. I love her! She's donating these NEW Paul Mitchell Products, such a fantastic contribute Heather! And they smell amaaaaazing! Go show her some love!} 

Sweet Street Carmel & Coffee Cafe
{Ashley DeLoderre is the owner of this sweet shop! She's in University Park Mall so be sure to stop in and pick up some of these yummy treats! Everything she creates looks soooooo delicious and tastes it as well! Go show her some love!}

The Vintage Key
{I have LOOOOOOVED Kama Darr's artistic work for a VERY long time. I first found her items at the Blueberry Festival years ago. Being a lover of nostalgia myself, I found her work insanely beautiful. It's soooo truly unique and unordinary - the pieces I have bought from her in years past are among my VERY favorites. She has donated a gorgeous necklace and matching ring. It's simply exquisite and hand crafted by Kama. Please go show her some love!}

Perfectly Posh
No wonder Erin Ferguson always looks so amazing and smells so good! She's donating some delicious smelling Perfectly Posh products to this giveaway. Perfectly Posh products are PURE pampering products. Below is info on the items! 
Skinful Skin: a rich body lotion that will leave you soft, silky and smelling sensational all over. A delightful decadent blend of natural butters, oils, and vitamins create a natural, creamy and nourishing experience without empty fillers. Retail value: $15.00

Handle: Looking for the ultimate way to take care of your hands? Handles are ideal for dry climates, for hands that spend time outdoors in extreme weather, and for frequent handwashers. Perfectly Posh Solid Hand Lotion is a soothing blend of healing shea butter and protective beeswax. Just pick it up, smooth it across your hands allow it to quickly and gently protect and infuse your skin. Retail value $12.00

Bath Bombinator : Get an anytime mental escape in your bathtub. Just break, bomb and sink in for a little breather! Retail value: $9.00

Chunk Bath Bars: Chunk bars are a lathering, fragrant sanctuary for your skin. Creamy butters and moiturizing ingrediants combined with rare and intricant fragrances. Retail value: $9.00

Slather body butter: Only the most indulgant of fragrances are added to our thick luxurious body butters. Available in a heady, whipped shea butter formula or a silky, satin and safflower. Slather is packed with aloe, glycerin infusers, and vitamin E that give elasticity and youth to your dry, needy skin. Retail value: $17.00

{GIVEAWAY - THE DETAILS | Show some love!}
Mandatory Entry: 

• Visit Josephiney Photography on Facebook and "Like Me" if you haven't already - thanks!

• "Like" all 7 Vendors Fan Pages too! Links are included above each photo to make it super easy for you. Just click on each link and like their page! They have each gone ABOVE and beyond to donate fabulous prizes, please share the love by liking their page. And hey, feel free to leave them a hello too and thank them for their contribution to the giveaway!:)

• Share a link to this blog post on your Facebook page about the giveaway.http://josephineyphotography.blogspot.com/2012/02/josephiney-photography-2k-fans-giveaway.html Be sure to tag Josephiney Photography in the post by using the @ symbol before typing it. {If you did it correctly your text with my name turns blue!}

• Come on back here to this post, leave a comment and tell me that you shared the love in the ways I asked - and IMPORTANT: please leave me your e-mail address as that is how I will contact the winners! Once you've liked and shared you are entered! You have to follow the rules though to be entered to win. Thank you!

Extra Credit: Tweet, Pin or Share a link to this blog post on any favorite forum of yours and come back and tell me you did by leaving a link in the comments section below. {1 link per comment please.}


Invalid entries will not be selected & may be deleted without notice. 


The Specifics:

• Giveaway starts today 2/27/12 {my birthday, yeah!} & ends 3/15/12 at 11:59pm EST.
• 7 Winners will be chosen randomly via Random.org
• Winners will be contacted via e-mail and announced here on the blog on 3/16/12.
• Prizes will be mailed from Josephiney to winners.
• Shipping is included within US - International winners would be responsible for additional shipping.
• Unclaimed prizes will be given to another random number drawn.
• This giveaway is not endorsed, sponsored or affiliated with Facebook in any way.

*Giveaway is subject to change as needed. 

{Happy Birthday Dad | Personal}

It's hard for me to believe my Dad is 57 today. 
57 is still so young. And yet, he doesn't look a day past 40 to me. 


He's aged well. I hope I take after him. 


We share a birthday. And I like to think I resemble him... so maybe, just maybe, I might.


He's worked with his hands his whole life. 
He works hard. He loves the land and simple things. 
He loves his family and his Lord. There are not a lot of gray areas with Dad. 
I love him for that even when what he sees black and I see gray... he's unchanging.


My Dad knows every good and bad thing about me. He loves me unfailingly - always. I could write and tell you the ways that he is set apart from other dads, but we'd be here all day. He's been a rock. He's steady and strong, he's firm in his beliefs. He's an amazing example.


My parents divorced when I was 8. When I was in the 5th grade I went to live with my Dad. I still remember him coming in and kissing us goodnight each night after prayer. Me on my top bunk. He made a lot of beef pot roasts... in which my sister and I would have good laughs about at the kitchen sink while we washed dishes. "Can you believe Dad made pot roast again? You know what's for dinner tomorrow night right? Beef and Noodles!" We'd joke about it but Dad was a great cook. We used to call him Mr. Mom. He had a special recipe, "Mr. Mom's Seafood Special" with all kinds of things in it like bok choy and other crazy vegetables we'd never heard of.


Back then not many kids were being raised alone by their dads. His job wasn't easy. He didn't always have the financial backing that he needed to raise us. We didn't have a lot of money. Somehow he found a way to put us into private school though. He bought a small house and we lived there many years. Many good memories of rollerskating in the garage while my Dad worked on the yard. Eating grilled chicken on the patio. Raking the leaves in that big old yard. Bike rides. Dad always had us going on bike rides. Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night at church. Dad always had us in church. Saturday nights playing Euchre with him, my brother and Grandma. Watching Star Trek, Bonanza and The Three Stooges re-runs on the couch on a Sunday afternoon. Oh the simpler times. 


Such good memories. Thankful for each one.


Saying I am so grateful for him... doesn't seem to really say all that I feel. For the Dad he was, he is and the Grandpa he is to my kids. 


I know he knows. So much of what he taught me has shaped me. I wouldn't be the same person with out his influence. He's an incredible, incredible father. I am blessed that God picked him for me... and to top it off, I'm even allowed me to share a birthday with him, his firstborn. That's pretty special.


Happy Birthday Dad. 
There's always a little part of my heart that is reserved for the wonderful childhood memories you gave me and that same part of my heart is that little girl that will always look up to you in admiration and love.


Love you.
B-b-b-b-bozo.

{Long Distance Call | 366 Project}

After a session today I drove around downtown to find my photo of the day for 366. I saw this old abandoned phone booth, dirty windows - what were left of them. Someone had smeared the shape of a heart in the dirt on the window. That caught my attention first. But as I looked closer the glass on the ground became like all of these glittery sparkling jewels.


The storyteller that I am found myself wondering about the calls made here over the years in that booth. It had stood there, enduring the lonely nights, the howling winds and rain. Not many takers anymore. Always a story...


Love an old phone booth. The romance and desperateness associated with them in the movies. Are they not magical?


As I stood there quickly snapping into the sun, an elderly gentleman came up and approached me. Said something about, "that's some nice equipment" - usually I am pretty guarded when alone downtown - I do carry protection on me, but he seemed pretty harmless, so we talked a bit. He asked me what I was trying to specifically capture about the booth. First tip he knew something about the art. He then told me he had a Pentax camera, and then I kid you not, literally pulled a stack of 4x6 prints out of his pockets. I shot with a Pentax in college. Sold it years later in a garage sale. Could shoot myself now for that. All of this elderly photographer's shots were of downtown South Bend, and there were some pretty good ones too! Crazy, he lives in a Senior Living place downtown, but you could tell he enjoyed his freedom in an afternoon walk, or atleast, the pictures showed it to be so. Nice gentleman. Funny who you run into sometimes. 


I intended to photograph an old abandoned phone - which he and I agreed is pretty much already obsolete, and I met a kind old gentleman who was a photographer and still shoots for hobby. 


It's a small world. One where obsolete, forlorn and abandoned things are a mutual passion to capture amongst artists. Makes me happy when someone understands why I'm photographing that beat up old booth. 


It may never be photographed again. 
And maybe, just maybe, I was the first to give it some attention.


I hope someday when I am older I am wandering the streets and still shooting just for the heck of it. Something special about that in the fact that when something is truly a passion in your heart, it never dies. Even after the profession is gone, you still relentlessly pursue that calling. You can't not.

Where to go I had no idea about it
Most of the people do, there're only doing just fine 
I don't wanna stay in place no more, see Ain't doing well well well, 
I am only doing just fine

Long time no see, long time no say
Got little to tell, I don't say much but I might 


Long Distance Call - Phoenix

{Fabulous Four | 02.25.12}

I'd like to blog 4 items each week that I either already own and LOVE or do not own but want. Just for fun and just for me. We'll see if I can keep up with yet another project. :)

I was just thinking about how much I love these items. I love it when people tell me about products or things they love! Sometimes I'd have no other way of knowing about them!

Word of mouth recommendations are huge to me.

So left to right -

1. Butterfly in a jar

Someone e-mailed me that follows my page and told me about these! I had a friend about a year ago also mention them to me! But I could never find them. :) Now I have a website to order one.

2. Nag Champa Body Lotion

I am crazy about this stuff. It's not in a fancy bottle but gosh does it smell amazing. I don't even know how to describe it. It's kind of incensey. :) How's that. :)

3. Leslie Blodgett Bare Skin Perfume

One of my current favorites. I am a perfume addict. I love this because it's so soft and buttery. It smells amazing. Verrrrrrry sultry.

4. Spearmint Mentha Lip Shine by C.O. Bigelow

This has truthfully been a staple favorite for me. I adore spearmint - I keep this on me when my Burt's Bees isn't quite enough lip kick. :)

{FOTOFRIDAY | 366.55}

366.55
Amish life. 

I see lots of these every day. :) They come to the market and park their horse and buggy. 


The winner this week suggested that I photograph Amish life without photographing the Amish themselves. Amish have strict beliefs on photography - before I knew this I would try to photograph the Amish, now I am nothing but respectful since knowing their beliefs on it.


I decided to photograph their horse and buggy instead. Of course they walked up on me while I was doing it. Lol. They were very kind however and allowed me to continue photographing the horses. 


Here's what the winner, Leslie Star suggested I shoot:


"This may sound a bit odd, but I've currently become fascinated with the Amish culture. I believe you live in a town with a large population as well, and was thinking perhaps there would be a way that you could capture their culture, without actually capturing them (due to their religious constraints on photographs.)"


I realized that these two horses were talking to one another when I approached them - as you'll see in the photos below. The first photo featured above is the photo I picked for today's 366 and the winning idea photo. 


But notice how they literally put their heads together and whisper about that crazy camera lady in front of them.... haha. I love my job & this project.